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As well as the projects that FACT is directly involved with, many of our trustees, staff and volunteers are also involved with other exciting projects in the UK and abroad. It’s always great to hear what everyone else is up to, so this page looks at two...

Kisiizi Hospital, Uganda
One of our team members from the FACT Bolivia Boat Proejct in 2001 just hasn't stopped travelling since!! This summer Lizzie White has ended up in Uganda... she writes:

I'm off to Uganda on Thursday (24th June, 2005). I'll be staying at Kisiizi hospital in the South West, working to upgrade a hydro-electric plant to supply increased and more reliable electricity to the hospital. I'll be there until July 24th, using my recently gained engineering degree to do design work and costings for the project, and maybe some supervision of the work actually gets underway. If you would pray for me and spread the word that would be great!
Wonder if I'll get a chance to hop down to Malawi....

You can catch up with what Lizzie is up to at her blog.

Nicaragua: The Amos Trust
Long time FACT supporters Sue and Simon Plater have just returned from Nicaragua, visiting the work of the Amos Trust, who Sue works for. The Amos Trust was founded by singer-songwriter Garth Hewitt and is committed to fighting for justice and hope for the forgotten. The trust has partners around the world, including Nicaragua where the support is focused on the Avocado Tree School in the town of La Concepcion, where over 80% of the community are unemployed.

Here are some of Sue’s thoughts on their recent trip:
‘This was the fourth visit Simon and I have made to Nicaragua, and as always we found our time there totally inspiring and invigorating….One phrase sticks in my mind though, in terms of Amos’ current involvement in funding teachers’ salaries and school expenses at Avocado. The school caters for children too poor to otherwise be able to get to school. As the morning group of primary children sat in front of us, the new headmistress Mercedes Ampie indicated to them and said to us ‘This is your investment’. I thought of all those adverts for pension products, ISAs, savings schemes etc, and I was really challenged. The way the world works at the moment it seems that the only chance those children and many others like them have is if we in the rich countries invest in them, to ensure that they (and actually we) have a future. And what nicer place to invest your money than in a bunch of excited children, keen to learn and believing that in doing so they might have a better life.’

To read more about their trip and about the Amos Trust, go to their website from our hot links page.

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Braintree: The Pais Project
Brazil Boat Project team member Anna has landed somewhere slightly less exotic!

Name: Anna Gallagher Age: 18 Status: gap year student
Can’t live without: water, waves, sun, laughter
Can’t stand: raisins (with a passion), boredom.

Currently doing: at the moment, I am taking a gap year out with the Pais project (a large Christian youth and schools organization based in Manchester). I have been placed on a team of 5 in Braintree, Essex to do youth and schools work in this area. We as a team of 5 are actually a band, we have been put together to write songs and produce music to be used in schools to reach the youth in a relevant way. We visit schools, taking assemblies, RE lessons, music workshops, lunch clubs, Christian Unions and putting on gigs. Each of the team are based with a church for the year, to become apart of the fellowship and help out with the youth work. We are in 8 of 9 secondary schools in Braintree District, regularly taking part in different areas of the schools. We have recently has a 'mission week' which involved all day every day schools work, and lunchtime gigs everyday, it went very well, and due to it, have seen an increase in students coming to Christian Unions.

Learnt this year: Overall I am really enjoying my gap year, there have been hard bits, and easy bits, but I learnt to take the rough with the smooth and take joy out of learning from it. It’s been an awesome step up to independence and to realise what God is calling me to do in the future. I have learnt so much about working as a team, and parts of my character that help and hinder this. God has used this year so much to shape who I am, and to scratch away at some bad characteristics and teach me of other good areas of myself.

Plans for the future: as of September I will be a ‘real’ student. I’ve been told it’s a great 3 years (or so) and so am very excited about it. I plan to study sociology at Exeter.
I am also planning to take up some more mission work but more further a field…THAILAND! My dad has recently been aiding the work of the free Burma rangers in their defence against the Burmese attacks on the Karen people, and so with hope, we (as a family) will be going out for a few weeks this summer to help in the refugee camps on the boarder and the orphanages. We are praying that it is safe for us to venture there and be of assistance.

Prayer Points: Thailand mission work and a ceasefire to be called by the governments, that I go for every opportunity God gives me this year to be a witness for him, guidance for university and beyond!

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